GST council meeting LIVE: Oppn welcomes new rates, Chidambaram questions timing

GST council meeting LIVE: Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while announcing the new slabs, said that the key drivers of economy have been given a prominence

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"Glad to state that @GST_Council, comprising the Union and the States, has collectively agreed to the proposals submitted by the Union Government on GST rate cuts & reforms, which will benefit the common man, farmers, MSMEs, middle-class, women and youth. The wide ranging reforms will improve lives of our citizens and ensure ease of doing business for all, especially small traders and businesses," he said in a post on X.

GST slabs | New rates

• The GST council has turned a four-tier structure of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent into a two-tier structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent.
• A new 40 per cent slab of GST will take effect on September 22, along with all the new rates. This slab mostly takes under its purview high-end non-essentials or luxury goods, including cigarettes, pan masala, gutka, chewing tobacco, caffeinated beverages, non-alcoholic drinks, and motorcycles exceeding 350 cc.
• Household and personal items like ghee, nuts, namkeen, bhujia, pencils and other such items will now be under the 5 per cent GST slab. Personal care items, like hair oil and shampoo, and processed food items like pasta and chocolates, will also be under the 5 per cent slab.
• Consumer electronics such as certain televisions, refrigerators and air conditioning machines will fall under the 18 per cent rate. Automobiles, including small cars, motorcycles up to 350cc, and ambulances, will also be counted under this same slab.
• A wide range of essential medicines, including over 30 cancer drugs, will have a nil GST rate. Medical consumables like bandages and surgical gloves, and educational services and materials will also have the same, zero GST.
• Farming and agricultural equipment, such as fixed-speed diesel engines, fertiliser inputs and tractor tyres will now fall under the 5 per cent GST slab.